The Screamers
by HowObjectionable
Summary: When The Doctor lands in Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS, things don't really go as planned. But that's nothing new. The Doctor, The TARDIS and the rest of the Whoniverse are not mine. 'cept Carys.
1. Of Cousins and Cardiff

The Doctor's eyes flickered open. As soon as they did, he asked himself three things. One, why were they shut in the first place? He certainly didn't sleep much. Two, where was he? This certainly was not the TARDIS. It was a big white room, and he was apparently lying on a similarly coloured bed, beside which sat a chair. Which led to question number three – who was the girl sitting _on_ the chair, staring at him?

"Nice to see you awake." The girl said calmly as the Doctor met her gaze.

"…Thanks. Err…where am I?" The Doctor asked.

"Wales." The woman replied unhelpfully.

"Oh."

"You took a fall." The woman explained. "Banged your head pretty hard. You've been out since yesterday."

"Oh."

"I'm Carys by the way. And you are?"

The Doctor refrained from saying 'Oh' again, and decided it was time to look for some answers. "I'm John Smith." He replied. "Dr. John Smith. My ID is in my coat pocket, actually…"

"Your coat's in the wash. The stuff that was in it is on that table." Carys replied indicating a small beside table next to the Doctor's head. The Doctor reached out and picked up his trusty psychic paper and showed it to her. Carys took it and looked it over.

"Oh, Dr. John Smith of London, are we?" Carys asked, politely enough. "A medical doctor?"

"Ah…no. Actually, it's just a PhD, you know. So, tell me again, where am I?"

Carys smiled. "I told you. Wales. Cardiff to be exact. In my house. In a bed. On planet Earth. In the Milky Way galaxy. It that area generally known as the Universe. Does that help any?" she asked.

"Loads, thanks"

"So now that I've told you that, why don't you tell me who you are?" Carys asked.

The Doctor stared. "I told you, I'm…"

"Don't lie." Carys sighed. "The piece of paper you showed me, it's blank."

The Doctor looked at Carys warily. "Have you had psychic training at all, by any chance?"

"No. I've already seen the paper, _Doctor, _last night. I was looking for ID, to see who you were. It's not every day a fairly good looking guy falls from a considerable height and lands right in front of you. Especially in Wales." Carys replied. "And another thing, I'm not an expert, but I'm fairly sure the Londoners don't have two heartbeats."

"Ah." The Doctor didn't exactly know how to respond to this.

"Now, who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Oh, come on…"

"It's true!" The Doctor replied indignantly.

"Doctor who?"

The Doctor mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like, "If I hear that line _one _more time…" Then he looked back at Carys. "Just the Doctor. That's my name."

"Funny sort of name." Carys replied.

"Funny sort of way to treat a guest." The Doctor retorted.

"Touché." Carys replied. "So, Doctor, explain why you have those two hearts beating away merrily, will you?"

"I'm a 900-and-something year old Timelord from the planet Gallifrey, which was destroyed in the last great Time War. I travel through space and time in a machine called the TARDIS and I'm the last of my kind."

"You can travel in time?"

"Yes."

"That sounds nice." Carys said. "Are you hungry? I'm not going to cook – the kitchen'll explode if I try - but I'll go get some chips. From the chippie down the road. Nice, greasy chips, perfect for an invalid. Do aliens eat chips?"

"I love a good bag of chips." The Doctor replied. "Love them. Jelly babies too, can't get enough. You humans aren't bad at food. So you aren't cynical at all about the fact I just told you I was an alien? Most girls your age wouldn't believe me."

"Most twenty five year old women haven't met an oddball with two hearts." Carys replied. "Especially one running for his life…or maybe looking for something?"  
The Doctor looked at her for a minute. "I only landed in Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS. No idea what I'd be running from."

"Perhaps it was another big scary alien." Carys suggested indifferently. "You look the kind who attracts trouble.

"Oi!" The Doctor said, and then stopped. "Well, I guess I do. Haven't seen a big blue box anywhere, have you?"

"What? You mean like a '50's police public call box?" Carys asked.

"That's the one."

"Nope." Carys replied, but, seeing the expression on the Doctor's face, added "Yes, actually. I ignored it, though. We humans have an amazing capacity for self deception. We don't notice odd things like your machine, err, the TARDIS."

The Doctor started, hearing his own words reflected back at him. Carys grinned at him. "I'm only kidding you; it's in an alleyway not far from here."

"Who're you?" the Doctor asked abruptly.

"I was wondering when you'd ask that, Doctor." Carys replied. "Okay, I'll introduce myself then. My name's Carys Jones. My Dad's from England. His brother, my Uncle Clive and his ex-wife Francine have three kids, Leo, Tish and Martha. That explain it a bit more?"

"You're Martha's cousin."

"Yes, and shame on you for leading her on, Doctor. That poor girl took _months_ to get over you." Carys replied, mock-sternly. "Still, she's got her nice new job now…"

"I didn't lead her on." The Doctor stated, not whiningly, just calmly.

"I was joking. Relax, Doctor, I'm not going to attack you for breaking my cousin's innocent young heart." Carys laughed.

Now that the Doctor looked at her, Carys did look a lot like Martha. She was black –a light tone, like Martha – with the same black hair. She was a little taller than Martha, her eyes were green and her nose was a bit longer, but the family resemblance was startling – when you knew what you were looking for.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew who I was in the first place?" The Doctor demanded.

"I didn't. I didn't know what you looked like, and then when you told me, I had to make sure." Carys replied. "I've wanted to meet you for ages, Doctor, the man with many faces who saves the world on a regular basis. Always travel with a girl, don't you? Martha, and then that blonde before her-"

"Rose." The Doctor interrupted.

"Yes, Rose. And then last Christmas there was that ginger in the wedding dress."

"How do you know about Donna?" The Doctor asked.

"There are like a million conspiracy websites following you, Doctor." Carys replied. "As soon as Martha told me about you, I had to check them out. Now, how about those chips?"

"I'll come with you." The Doctor offered, making to stand up, then realising to his horror that he couldn't move his leg.

"Sorry, Doctor." Carys replied, taking a coat from the rack near the door. "You aren't going anywhere."


	2. Of Screaming and Sauce

"_Sorry Doctor," Carys replied, taking a coat from the rack near the door. "You aren't going anywhere."_

--

"What's that supposed to mean?" The Doctor demanded, sitting up – which apparently he _could_ do.

"Relax, Doctor, I simply meant that you _can't _go anywhere. Not for a day or two at least. You've hurt your ankle pretty bad as well as your head. So, wait here and I'll get chips. Sauce? Tomato or brown? I prefer tomato. Ketchup it is then. Be back in ten." And with that, Carys left.

The Doctor lay back and tried to contemplate what was going on. The facts: One, he was in the house of Martha's cousin (apparently). Two, Martha's cousin's name was Carys. Three, Carys like tomato sauce. Four, she'd just decided for him. She'd better get a pickle. The Doctor liked pickles. Especially with chips. From the chippie. Couldn't beat a plate of steaming hot, greasy, overly salted chips from a chippie. Delicious. The Doctor then paused his train of thought. He got the feeling he'd gone off track a bit.

Right, so back to the facts. He'd landed in Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS, and then…then what? That's right. The TARDIS had started behaving oddly…

--

_The console screen suddenly jumped to life, replacing the view of the city of Cardiff (or as the Welsh call it, __Caerdydd) with very many odd looking shapes. Then, the noise. It was a sort of dull, dry, screaming, but it sounded old, so very old. Yet at the same time, almost futuristic. It was a dry metallic sound that filled up the massive time machine known as the TARDIS…or was it all in the Doctor's head? It was loud, so loud, and so very, very sad._

_The sound kept going, and the Doctor was in agony. The screaming…it wouldn't stop, and his head… his head felt like it was going to burst…_

_The Doctor forced himself to ignore the pain. Ignore the pain, and see what was going on. He worked his way over to the console screen to get a look, but his head…the searing pain, he couldn't see._

_He dropped to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. _

_The Doctor yelled out. Exactly what he'd yelled he couldn't remember, but it was addressing the screamer, for surely something was making the noise and then…_

_It stopped. The Doctor looked up, blinking the tears of pain away. He got to his feet and looked into the console screen and looked again. He saw-_

--

What had he seen? For the life of him, the Doctor couldn't remember. He'd looked into the screen and whatever he'd seen had either scared him silly or caused him to run to look for something…

--

_He was running. Running faster than he'd ran in ages. He knew where he was going, he knew what he was looking for, but he had to get there, he had to get there quickly. Quicker, faster, run, run, he had to run. Stairs. Lots of stairs. Taking them two at a time. Up and up and faster and faster he went and he was on a rooftop. Near the edge of the rooftop. He had to be careful, to get to the other stairs, to walk slowly._

_And then the screaming started again. The screaming, the dull, metallic roar that blinded the Doctor for a few precious seconds, precious seconds where he staggered sideways with the pain and slipped, and now there was more screaming mixed in with the impossible shouts, and that was the screams coming from his own mouth as he fell, down, down…_

--

"Doctor!"

Someone was shaking him. He opened his eyes. His brown met with green ones full of concern. "Doctor, are you alright?" Carys' voice asked, and the screaming stopped.

"What?" he asked blearily.

"You were screaming." Carys replied. "You were screaming, loudly. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." The Doctor replied, gathering his senses. "Just a bit of a headache, that's all."

"Want an aspirin?" Carys asked, letting go of his shoulders and he fell backwards again.

"Can't." he replied. "Allergic. What about those chips?"

"Because they'll help you _loads_" Carys replied sarcastically. "Are you allergic to apples too?"

"Yep. How'd you know that?"

Carys grinned. "Just a guess. I'll go get the chips then."

One minute later she came in with a brown bag, which she handed him. "Eat them sitting up or you'll choke. I don't want the last of the Timelords dead because I gave him chips from Old Daffyd's.

The Doctor laughed. "I'll try not to die."

"Oh and…" Carys reached into her coat pocket and brought out a multicoloured packet. "Jelly babies. For afters. Eat up all your chippies first, there's a good boy."

The Doctor opened the paper bag. There they were, chips, glorious chips covered with sauce. Smashing. With vinegar stains on the paper and stained with salt. Lovely. She'd even got him a pickle. And jelly babies.

"You're marvel, you are, Carys Jones." The Doctor said, grinning approvingly.

"I try."

--

As the Doctor was finishing his jelly babies, Carys said, "So when your ankle heals up, where are we going?"

"What do you mean?" the Doctor paused with a jelly baby halfway to his mouth.

"Well, you've got to take me a thank you trip, buddy. And don't worry; I make a point to only date humans. And I'm aware Martha said that too, but I mean it." Carys replied. "Besides, I want to see the TARDIS."

"Well, I…"

"You're alone, aren't you/" Carys asked. "Do you want to be alone?"

The Doctor stared at her, a mixture of sadness and thoughtfulness on his face. "Yes. I travel by myself."

"And you like it that way?"

"Well…"

"Then that settles it. Doctor, from this point on, you are not alone." Carys replied flippantly. "And since I'm not a giant head I mean that sincerely, and I'm talking about me, not another alien. And again, I don't fancy you. At all."

The Doctor blinked. "Well, in that case, Carys, where should we go first?"

"Well, we should probably find out what you were running from…" Carys replied thoughtfully. "That should be interesting. I do have experience, you know."

"Experience? With who?"

"Torchwood, of course."


	3. Of Martha and Movies

"_Experience? With who?"_

"_Torchwood, of course."_

--

"You worked for Torchwood?" The Doctor asked, mildly surprised.

"Yes. Well, when I say worked, I mean helped out. Well, when I say helped out, I mean for a week. Well, when I say a week…" Carys replied. "Them at Torchwood are all nutters anyway. The leader's a big headed flirt who can't die. Sort of takes away the dramatic tension, doesn't it?"

The Doctor laughed. "And Jack's head's just going to keep growing, Carys." he replied.

Carys laughed too. She yawned. "Well, I for one am knackered. I can stick a film on for you if you want, since you obviously've been asleep for a while already."

"Sleep? Nah, that's for tortoises. And humans, I suppose." The Doctor replied. "A film sounds fab though."

"Alright, I've got _Back to the Future _– all of them – _The Terminator, Timecop, Timequest, Déjà vu and The Butterfly Effect…" _Carys said, grinning.

"Any that haven't to do with time travel?" The Doctor laughed.

"_Star Wars?" _Carys suggested with a straight face.

"Haha."

"Alright. I've got _Aladdin, _the Disney one."

"Oh, shove that on. I love that genie. He's my role model!" The Doctor replied.

"I'm not sure whether to laugh or be scared." Carys replied and then turned on the DVD.

--

The next morning, The Doctor was in the middle of laughing at the ridiculous temporal mechanics in _Back to the Future III _when there was a knock at the door.

"Hope you're decent, because I'm coming in, Doctor." Carys' voice came through.

"Feel free." The Doctor replied.

"I brought you breakfast." Carys said, pushing open the door. "Cereal. Corn Flakes. With raisins. Nice and healthy." She put the tray on the bed.

"Ta very much." The Doctor replied.

"How's your ankle? And, more importantly, your head?"

"I'm fine. I was walking around last night"

"Having a poke around, were we?" Carys asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I might've been." The Doctor replied, rather evasively.

"Good. Get ready. We're going out."

"Out?"

"We're meeting a couple of people." Carys replied. "Enjoy your cereal."

The door slammed shut behind her as she left the room.

"…Who?" The Doctor said.

--

And so they left into the 'brisk Cardiff air' as the Doctor called it. (Carys preferred the term 'bloody freezing'). The Doctor was limping a little, but apart from that he showed no sign of falling from the top of a building the previous day.

"Where's the TARDIS?" The Doctor asked.

"Come on then." Carys sighed and lead him down a winding passage of streets until the familiar blue box came into view.

"Ah, there she is!" The Doctor exclaimed, half running towards the TARDIS and wrapping his arms around it.

"You're not going to get your arms the whole way round, Doctor." Carys said, amused.

"I can try." The Doctor replied, grinning.

"Okay, okay, but we're going to be late for our little meeting." Carys warned.

"Do we have to leave her here? So sad…and alone…" The Doctor asked, with a childlike pleading.

"Oh Doctor, shut up. You'll see the TARDIS soon enough. Come on, let's go."

The Doctor laughed. "Alright, I'm coming."

--

"Doctor!"

The Doctor stared in the direction of the American accent. "Jack?"

"Carys!" Carys replied. "Now that we've all met…Doctor, Jack is the flirtatious, never-to-die hero of the Torchwood Institute. I figured he'd know a bit about these screaming things."

"Great idea." The Doctor said with a tiny hint of sarcasm.

Then another voice. "Doctor! Carys!"

"Martha!"

The Doctor and Martha were soon lost in a hug. Then they babbled on inconsistently.

"How are you?"

"Great! How are _you?_"

"Fantastic! I'm engaged!"

The Doctor heard Carys and Jack behind him, trying not to laugh at the expression on his face.

He quickly composed himself, however. "That's great! Who is he?"

"Tom…he's human, by the way." Martha replied, smiling. "And at least twice as good looking as you. And not so clumsy as to fall off a building."

"Alright, alright." The Doctor interrupted. "Sorry I asked."

"Let's go inside." Carys suggested.

--

"So, Doctor, picked up a new friend, have we? Very pretty, I must say." Jack said, looking at Carys.

"Watch it." Carys warned. "You might be unable to die for long, but the key words there are 'for' and 'long'"

The Doctor said, "Yep. Carys is going on a trip with me. One return trip."

"That's what he said to me." Martha said.

"Yeah." Jack replied. "And we spent the next year locked up because he kept you."

"Technically, the year never happened." Martha argued.

"Time arguments aside…" Carys interrupted. "Let's discuss the Doctor's headaches"

The Doctor suddenly found everyone looking at him. So he explained.

A strange look caused Jack's face. "The screaming sound sounds like…"

"Like what?" Martha asked.

"There was a girl, 15 or so, a few years ago. She'd go into trances and spoke of ghosts, and demons and them being trapped, and scared, and alone…and then she'd explain how they were screaming in her head. By the time we heard of it she'd died. Too much for the kid to take." Jack finished. "But that was about five years ago."

"Nothing's a coincidence when the Doctor's involved." Martha mused.

"Are we taking him with us?" Carys asked the Doctor, pointing at Jack.

"What?"

"Martha's got a fiancé to get back to, but Jack'll want to come with us. Am I right?" Carys asked the two others, who both nodded.

The Doctor made a sound that sounded oddly like 'doeshehaveto?', but nodded.

"To the TARDIS, then!" Jack said, springing to his feet.

"To the TARDIS." The Doctor agreed.

They all said their goodbyes to Martha. The Doctor and Jack were at the door, when the Doctor realised there was something missing.

"Carys?"

"Just a minute!" Carys shouted back.

Martha was whispering something to her. Carys nodded, said goodbye and followed the men out of the door.

--

"Right, so, about five years into the past, then?" the Doctor asked, inside the TARDIS (Carys had bit back her 'It's bigger on the inside!' comment, with the feeling he'd heard it all before)

"Yeah." Jack replied. "Maybe a bit further back, actually…"

And so they were off, seven years into the past.

They arrived, Cardiff, 2001.

Carys ran to the door. "I'm opening it!" she said excitedly. "I'm actually going ito the past."

"In a time machine? Really?" Jack asked.

"Shut it, you." Carys said then stepped outside of the doors….to exactly the same scene she'd left. Well, she reasoned, of course it was. She'd only went back seven years.

But there was something new. A girl, a blonde girl, around 12 or 13, staring at the TARDIS.

The girl's eyes swivelled to the doors as Carys stepped outside. The both stared at each other for a minute. Then-

"Ahhhhh!" The girl suddenly screamed, her hands going to her head. "No! Stop screaming! Stop!"

Her knees gave way and she was on the ground, still screaming.

Carys ran over. She had no idea what she should do. "Doctor! Jack! A little help!" She shouted back to the open doors. No answer. With one last desperate look at the girl, Carys stood up again and hurried to the blue doors, practically throwing herself inside.

Inside was as bad as out.

There, clutching at his head was the Doctor.

"Jack, what happened?" Carys practically screamed.

"I don't know! The console screen suddenly started showing a blurry image...something living, I think…and then it went blank and then…" Jack gestured to the Doctor.

"Jack, there's a girl out there, a teenager or younger. She's in the same state. We need to help her!"

"What about him?" Jack replied agitatedly.

"I don't know!" Carys replied frantically, "But there's a _kid _out there! _Probably _the one we came here for in the first place!"

"I'll go." Jack said and sprinted to the doors.

Carys made to approach the Doctor, but something caught her attention. The console screen was no longer blank.

She stared at it.

And a pair of eyes stared right back at her.

**Disclaimer: Nothing recognisable is mine. Got it?**

**Review, please!**


	4. Of War and Woe

_She stared at it._

_And a pair of eyes stared right back at her._

--

There was something hypnotising about the gaze from the screen, something amazing, something powerful, but something terribly painful, it was a look full of suffering. Carys walked closer to the screen, transfixed, like a sleepwalker. She knew she had to get to the Doctor, to help him…but what did that really matter, compared to the pain in the eyes of this sorrowful creature? What did anything in the world matter at all outside those dull eyes? Nothing.

The creature was in better view now. It was humanoid, and it looked human in almost every way except…those eyes, they were huge. Huge, tear-filled eyes overflowing with agony and anguish. The face was different too, not very, but it had a more rounded shape to it, and a tiny nose, and a mouth that had forgotten how to smile. There was a slight, very slight, blue tint to the skin, and the hair was incredibly fair, almost white.

The creature was not alone. There were now two standing in the screen, two of them, hopelessly praying for help, searching the Universe for salvation. They were gesturing out with their arms, their mouths opening a closing, silently screaming…

Carys felt tears coming to her own eyes. The pain, the suffering was flowing into her. "I want to help you…" she whispered. The creatures went on screaming, screaming, silently calling, wanting to get rid of the agony.

The pain was becoming more real for Carys. But anything, anything to take the sorrow from these creatures. She'd give them what strength she had, if it helped them. What she was feeling was nothing, what the Doctor was feeling was little…

The Doctor. The girl. Something stirred in Carys' mind. She started to wake up, but something held her back, drew her eyes to those two helpless creatures, in so much hurt…just like the Doctor and that girl, she reminded herself. But she couldn't pull herself back into reality. She'd given into these creatures, she'd given them her spirit and she was still going. She wasn't going to stop, no matter how much the little voice in her head yelled at her to stop, she knew she had to keep going, to free these poor, sad beings from their fate…

"…Carys…"

Who was Carys? Such a familiar name, such a familiar voice, but she didn't care; she couldn't focus on anything else besides those on the screen…

"Carys!"

Something was shaking her, repeating that name. A new voice had joined in, another familiar sound.

"Carys, can you hear me?"

Then the screen went blank. The sounds died.

Carys blinked. She found herself face to face with Jack and the Doctor. Jack had his hands on her shoulders and the Doctor, although looking weak, had a very concerned expression on his face, and his hand was on the switch that had just turned off the screen.

"Doctor….are you alright?" Carys asked.

"Just fantastic." The Doctor replied, smiling. "Thanks a bunch for distracting them, but next time try not to nearly kill yourself in the process, okay?"

"I'll try to remember that." Carys replied, smiling weakly. "Thanks for saving me from the edge of doom, Jack."

"No problem." Jack replied. "Do I get a kiss?"

"Don't push it." Carys replied, laughing. Then she remembered. "Where's the girl?"

"She…she just disappeared." Jack replied. "Vanished. What happened to you?"

Carys stared. That girl couldn't have just v_anished. _That was impossible. Of course, a few years ago, time travel would've been impossible to her as well. Never mind the machine that was bigger on the inside.

"I was going to try and help the Doctor…" Carys started. "Then there were a pair of eyes…such huge eyes…and so sad…Doctor, they were so sad" She looked to the Doctor, trying to explain herself. "It was so sorrowful…and then there was two of them…they were in such agony, Doctor." The tears filled her eyes again, remembering the distress on their faces…

"C'mere" The Doctor said, giving her a hug.

"You heard them screaming…" Carys whispered. "You heard them the whole time, didn't you?"

The Doctor didn't say anything.

--

The TARDIS was moving again.

"Where are we going?" Carys asked, having sufficiently been cheered up with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit from a tea shop not far from where she lived…or where she would be living four or five years from then.

Time travel was confusing.

"We're going back to the future!" The Doctor quipped. He'd had a lot of sugar in his cup.

Carys snorted. "I knew I shouldn't have let you turned that film on for you."

Jack entered the console room, some form of electronic book in his hands.

"Doctor, have you heard of the Clamarians?" Jack asked, looking up.

"The Clamarians?" the Doctor asked, not really paying attention, pulling at levers and pushing buttons like he'd never stopped.

"Let me see." Carys said, walking over to Jack and looking at what he held in his hands. "Oh…"

"What's up?" The Doctor said, coming away to have a look. "Yep, the Clamarians. A legend. A bedtime story. They're nicknamed the Screamers…ah."

"They're what I saw, Doctor. Pretty realistic bedtime story" Carys pointed out.

"Tell us the story, Doctor." Jack demanded.

The Doctor, however, was paying no attention. He had his glasses out, and he was reading the page.

_The planet Clamar is home to the creatures known as the Clamarians. Once thought of as a peaceful race, the Clamarians lived in perfect harmony with the world, until one day the planet was stuck in the middle of the Last Great War between the two Magnificent Planets._

_The planet was all but destroyed. Nearby, aliens from surrounding planets came over and took over Clamar, defeating the peaceful Clamarians without trouble. They became exiles in their own homes._

_And then they tried to win their planet back._

_Throughout the Universe, stories were told of creatures, blue skinned white-haired creatures that captured others with their sorrow. Only with the strength from others could they continue their own war, only then could the planet Clamar, renamed Dermas by the new "occupants", be recovered by the rightful inhabitants._

_There are few Clamarians remaining, as that place in space and time is generally avoided, so there is no one to pull in. The Clamarians are likely to be extinct within the next century. __**(Note: All times mentioned in our 'Guide to the Universe and its People', refer to years on the planet Earth. For notes on the main intelligence on this planet, located in the Milky Way galaxy, please input 'Human Beings')**_

"War." The Doctor muttered. "Between the two_ "Magnificent Planets."."_

The expression on his face was like nothing Carys had seen on any living being before. "Doctor?" she started hesitantly.

Jack put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "It's nothing to do with you." he said, leaving Carys even more confused. "You can't save everyone."

"But we're meant to." The Doctor replied, shrugging Jack's hand off, suddenly bright again. "Why else would they be contacting me?"

"Hang on, Doctor, we can't just go into a war zone" Carys said quickly. "Why don't we think about it logically? For instance, how are they manipulating the TARDIS? And where does that girl fit into the puzzle?"

The Doctor stopped. "You're right. But what do we do? The girl is dead."

"Hello? Time machine!" Carys replied.

"It's not as easy as that…"

Jack interrupted them. "We could always just ask her."

"Who?" Carys and the Doctor asked together, turning around.

"She doesn't look too dead to me." Jack added. "But I wouldn't know, I suppose."

The Doctor and Carys stared.

"Hello." The blonde girl said nervously.

**Hmm…the Screamers screams are like the Ood song. It's not deliberate! **

**Review?**


	5. Of Space and Singlemindedness

"_Hello" said the blonde girl nervously._

--

Carys, Jack and the Doctor stared.

The girl looked back nervously.

"Who are you?" the Doctor broke the silence in nice, calm voice.

"Ah…umm…my name's Clara." The girl replied. "Um…where am I?"

"A space ship." Jack replied.

Clara looked, if anything, even more terrified.

Carys elbowed him. "How did you get here, honey?" she asked.

"I…umm…they were…err…screaming again…and I….um, I hid and followed…I, err, followed that man there…" she pointed at Jack.

"You said she vanished." Carys said accusingly.

"She did!" Jack replied.

"I…ah…I can blend in with the background…he didn't notice…"

"Blend in?" Carys and Jack asked together.

"Ah!" the Doctor suddenly burst. "Chameleonic change. A gift of certain people, though not generally human."

Carys glared. "You men are incredibly insensitive." She scolded. "Doctor, get back to your controls. Jack, go do…something."

"Aye aye, sir, ma'am." Jack said, saluting and disappearing into the depth of the TARDIS.

"Tell me about yourself, sweetheart." Carys said, going over to Clara and kneeling on the TARDIS floor. As a trainee teacher, she had some experience with kids.

"I…um, I live with my…ah…foster parents. I'm…ah…I'm twelve."

"I'm twenty five." Carys replied, smiling.

"There are these…I don't know what they are….they're like monsters…they give me nightmares…ah, who are you all?"

"My name is Carys Jones. The man that you followed, that's Captain Jack Harkness. Don't listen to a word he says." Carys replied gently. "That man over there, he's the Doctor."

"The Doctor?"

"Yep. He's what monsters have nightmares about."

Clara giggled weakly. "Monsters don't have nightmares."

"They do about him." Carys replied.

"What does he do? Shoot them?"

"Nah." The Doctor replied in Carys' place, approaching them. "Guns are what monsters use. I use my brain."

Carys gave him a look. "Torchwood use guns."

"And your point?"

"Doctor…"

"So…umm...where are we?" Clara cut in.

"It's called the TARDIS." Carys explained.

"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." The Doctor noted.

"We're…ah…in a time machine?!" Clara asked.

"She's quick." Jack observed, not able to resist a nosy.

"And it's a spaceship too?"

"Yup." The Doctor replied.

"Really?"

"Well, you'll see in a few minutes when we open the doors and you're somewhere different." The Doctor replied. "What about your parents? Were any of them chameleon?"

"Doctor!" Carys reprimanded.

"I…ah…never knew my…um…real parents…"

"Sorry."

"It…it doesn't matter." Clara replied. "I…umm…can't miss what…what I never had."

--

If you had been watching carefully in a small park in Cardiff, you would have seen a blue police box materialise out of thin air with a strange but oddly beautiful sound. If not, and you were a normal human, you would have ignored it and went about your business. This being said, you would have also missed the fact that four people exited said box a moment later, one of whom was spluttering in disbelief about 'really travelling in space'.

"And time." Jack added.

"Um…but…" Clara said in disbelief. How could she have travelled forward in time? It wasn't possible…

"Here." Jack said, picking up a discarded newspaper from a nearby bench. Clara took it and examined the date. "But…this…it's seven years from now…I mean, um, then…I mean…"

"Try not to think about it too much." Carys advised.

The Doctor was already quite a bit ahead. Carys, Jack and Clara hurried to catch up.

"We need to investigate if the reverberation from the boulevard crook where I first encountered the thunderous shrieking has anything to do with that particular piece of terra firma," The Doctor informed them as they approached. "Or whether it's just coincidence that the TARDIS was there and they're in fact interfering with the TARDIS herself. This is why I have brought us to a common, separate from said crook, to assess whether it is one or the other. And that, Clara, is where you come in, if you don't mind."

"Um…what?"

Carys rolled her eyes. "He wants to find out if the sound from the street corner where he first heard the screaming has anything to do with where he was or if he would've heard it anyway. That's why he's brought us to the park to see. And he wants you to help."

"Ah…help?"

"Nothing strenuous, just stand in the TARDIS while we observe if anything happens from the exterior. If you hear them, I will too."

"You wouldn't mind, would you honey? It might hurt a little for you if the start screaming again, but it would be really helpful" Carys said.

"Wouldn't…wouldn't mind what?" Clara asked nervously.

Jack translated for her. "Nothing hard, just stand in the TARDIS for a while and we'll see if anything happens from the outside."

"Stop showing off." Carys commanded of the Doctor.

"But…but I don't hear them all the time." Clara said, confused. Surely the Doctor knew this if he heard them too?

"I know." The Doctor replied. "Use this. It's a sonic screwdriver. When you go into the TARDIS, turn on the console screen and then use the sonic pulse to…"

"I'll do it." Carys sighed.

"I'll help." Jack offered and without another word the three went inside.

The Doctor stood watching the TARDIS, hands in pockets.

--

"Setting 052 should do it, Carys." Jack informed her as he reached over for the switch to the screen.

"Right" came Carys' voice, muffled as she was crouching to reach under the console. "Ready, Clara?"

"Yes."

Carys pressed the button and the humming of the sonic screwdriver started at the same time as Jack switched on the console.

Clara watched in fascination as Jack twisted and pushed buttons around the screen while Carys held the screwdriver firm until…

"Ahh!" she yelled.

Carys' hands nearly slipped. Jack paused and turned around and they heard the Doctor shout from outside as well. Jack was staring at the screen.

"Turn it off, Jack!" Carys shouted after a few seconds of this, assuming he, too, was caught up in their sorrow. She tried to turn off the screwdriver, but it was stuck.

And then Jack blinked, and Clara stopped screaming.

Carys finally got the screwdriver off.

"Are you alright?" she asked the other two, who nodded.

"We'd better go and see if the Doctor's…" Jack started, heading for the doors. But the Doctor ran in first.

"Did you see anything happening with the TARDIS outside, Doctor?" Carys asked.

The Doctor didn't answer, just went straight for the console and started pushing at buttons.

"Doctor?" Jack asked.

The Doctor let his arms drop. "Hold on tight." he advised. "The TARDIS is being single minded again."

Then, suddenly, there was a tremble and Clara was knocked to the floor, while Jack had to grab onto Carys to stop himself falling over.

Carys shrugged Jack off, helped the girl to her feet and looked at the Doctor, who grinned back at her.

"Ready for an adventure, Miss Jones?" he asked.

"When you are." Carys replied, getting the full drift of it suddenly.

The TARDIS was moving.

And they were off to a war zone.


	6. Of Pluto and Planets

**Thanks to my reviewer! eh, she wasn't originally to be Martha's cousin, but stuff happened (nothing big), and...yeah. Here ya are anyway, next chapter.**

_The TARDIS was moving_

_And they were off to a war zone_

--

"Clara, sweetie, where are you?" Carys asked when the tremors calmed a little.

"I'm here." Clara whispered, reappearing back into view.

"Chameleon defence system." The Doctor explained cheerfully, strolling over to them, seemingly unaffected by the movements of his ship. "Don't worry, Clara, there's nothing to be scared of." he added kindly. "Just got a bit of a shock there, eh? Nope, nothing to be scared of…except whatever's waiting for us when the TARDIS lands…"

"Doctor!"

"Not that that's anything to worry about." The Doctor finished hastily.

Jack laughed. Carys shook her head, grinning.

Clara didn't look too amused.

--

"So, Clara, tell us a bit about yourself." The Doctor asked. They were sitting in seats in the control room, the tremors having calmed down significantly.

"My name's Clara Ian." Clara whispered. "Mam and Dad, they found me when I was…when I was about three. I can't remember it. Mam said I…she said I…told her my name…my second name too…they had me keep that…"

"When you were about three?" Jack repeated.

"Yes. They think I'm twelve now, and it's the age that makes most sense."

"Are you happy with your foster parents?" Carys asked, curious.

"Oh yes." Clara replied. "They're the only parents I really ever knew, and they've taken care of me, and I never stutter around them…but…"

Carys noticed that Clara wasn't stuttering now.

"But?" the Doctor prompted.

"But I still…I want to know…where I come from…who my real parents are…I love Cardiff…" Clara started

"You'd be the first." Jack noted.

Carys elbowed him.

"…but I don't really feel like I belong there. I love my parents, but they're not like me…" Clara continued.

"I know how you feel." The Doctor said.

"You do?"

"Yep. Love Earth. Love it. And humans. Just glad I'm not one of them." The Doctor replied. "They're just so _thick _sometimes."

"I resent that" Carys put in.

"But you do get the odd smart one." The Doctor gave her his most sunny smile, and she despised him for making her forgive him so easily.

"Oooh, is it my turn?" the Doctor asked, seeing Clara stare at him. "Alright then. I'm a Timelord."

"What's a Timelord?" Clara asked, reasonably enough.

"Something with two hearts, a big brain and an ego to match." Jack suggested.

The Doctor ignored him.

"A Timelord is an alien that can travel in time." He said simply. "Of course, it's much more complicated than that, but that's the easy version."

"You're an alien?" Clara asked, amazed. "Are you from Mars?"

"Do I look like a Martian to you?" the Doctor demanded.

"Jupiter?"

"Don't be silly."

"Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus?"

"Nope."

"Umm…Ceres, Pluto, Eris?"

"That's just your solar system." The Doctor pointed out. "You've got a whole Universe. Think bigger."

"Doctor, stop being ridiculous." Carys sighed. "She'll never guess."

"What about…that planet you mentioned earlier, Clamar? I mean…Dermas?"

"No."

"One of the two Magnificent Planets, then?"

The Doctor seemed to freeze, and a look of distaste crossed his face. "Gallifrey." He corrected. "Not the 'magnificent planet', just Gallifrey."

"Oh…I'm sorry if I…if I…err…offended you…" Clara stuttered.

"No need. He asked for it." Jack pointed out.

"Yep, don't worry about it." The Doctor said, expression clearing. "Anyway, I travel around the Universe, saving planets, that sort of thing."

"Saving planets?"

"Do you know I even got art lessons from Michelangelo?"

"Art lessons?"

"And I saved Queen Victoria's life…got myself made an enemy of the Crown, mind you."

"An enemy of the Crown? By saving her life?" Clara giggled, amused.

"Yep. She was a werewolf you know."

"A werewolf?" Clara looked stunned.

"And she founded the Torchwood institute. They're all nutcases, Torchwood." The Doctor added airily.

"Thanks a bunch." Carys and Jack both snorted.

"You aren't Torchwood." The Doctor told Carys.

"I was." Carys said defensively. "And speaking of Torchwood, that blonde, Rose…"

The Doctor tensed.

"…in your complete-so-far life history, I heard you travelled through time and space with Jackie Tyler, who, apparently, was her mother."

"Aw, no!" The Doctor complained. "I told them not to!"

Carys and Jack burst into laughter.

"I can't die." Jack added from nowhere.

The Doctor and Carys turned to look at him.

"It's true." He shrugged.

"What do you mean, 'can't die'?" Clara enquired.

"I can die, I suppose, but only for a few minutes."

"Really?" she asked, amazed.

"Unfortunately, me and you can only die once." Carys put in.

"What about the Doctor?"

"He regenerates…"

But before anyone could explain to Clara what this was, the TARDIS stopped.

"Excellent!" The Doctor exclaimed, springing to his feet. "Come on, come on, we haven't got all day!"

He led the other three to the doors. With a flourish, the Timelord pulled them open. And felt like shutting them again.

What he saw was horrible. The four walked cautiously out into the unknown, and what they saw was death.

Not literally, of course, no Grim Reapers here, but the planet was black. The ground was dark, the sky was shadowy, and the whole atmosphere was bleak and miserable. The few trees were sparingly arranged and scalded; the small river of water was contaminated and murky and there were no animals or people.

"What happened?" Clara whispered.

"War." The Doctor replied in a grim voice. "Not so much 'magnificent' as repulsive."

There was a sudden noise. Clara 'disappeared'.

"Get down." The Doctor advised.

Carys grabbed the apparently thin air beside her and pulled Clara down to the ground. Jack ducked as the gunshots started.

"Alright, stop!" The Doctor said, still standing and striding forward. "Surely we can discuss this over tea and a biscuit?"

Carys and Jack sighed loudly.

In a blink, the Doctor was being held with a weapon barrel in his back.

"Obviously not." He muttered.


	7. Of Prisoners and Paradise

_In a blink, the Doctor was being held with a weapon barrel in his back._

"_Obviously not." He muttered._

--

"We have your spy, Clamarians!" hissed the thing holding the weapon. It was tall, snakelike and hissing. Its red lizard's eyes were staring unblinkingly in the direction of…nothing. "Show yourselves! Or he dies!"

Nothing happened.

"You're coming with us." The creature spat.

"Oh…okay then." The Doctor replied, cheerfully enough. "Holiday? Three star or more, I hope. Can't stand rubbishy hotels, ruins the whole time away, doesn't it? I'd much rather go with you lot than _follow the others_ anyway! Yep, _I'll be just fine_ so long as it'd good accommodation!" he added.

The thing jeered. "Yes, it's definitely a five star holiday." it replied, pushing the weapon further into the Doctor's back to force him to walk. Not that he forcing. He was following them quite happily.

Jack and Carys had both noticed the way the Doctor had got his message through to them. But there weren't any others to follow. And Carys didn't know about the Doctor, but she certainly didn't feel fine. "Clara, honey, are you alright?" she whispered, thanking her lucky stars (or whatever there was to thank) that none of them (Jack and Clara and Carys, with the Doctor excluded, obviously) had been spotted.

No answer.

"Clara?"

"Clara!" Jack joined in.

"_Clara!"_

"She's followed the Doctor." Jack realised.

"Is this 'Doctor' one of yours?" asked a beautiful voice.

The air behind them shifted and many, many people appeared from nowhere.

Clamarians.

"No. He's our leader." Jack replied, standing.

"Your leader? Are you not Derrian?"

"No. If we were, why would they take our leader?" Carys said moodily as Jack helped her to her feet. It wasn't easy to talk civilly to something that had tried to absorb your spirit to fuel a war.

"Our apologies. Lower your weapons." The beautiful voice said again, turning to its followers. "I am Jana, Queen of the Clamarians. Who are you, who follow this man you call 'Doctor?'"

"My name's Captain Jack Harkness." Jack introduced himself. "And I was wondering if there was a King?"

Carys slapped him across the back of the head. "Not…the…time…" she muttered through gritted teeth.

"It's always the time." Jack whispered back, winking.

"Yes, there is." Jana replied. "My husband, Gyron."

"Damn." Jack replied. "All the pretty ones are always taken."

Jana smiled. "You may come with us if you would like to find your Doctor." She said.

"Are you planning on eating my soul?" Carys demanded.

"Do not worry. We shall not absorb you. I will not allow it." Jana replied, beaming at Jack.

"Unbelievable." Carys muttered.

--

"So where is this holiday? By the sea, I hope. Big bedrooms, fluffy pillows?" The Doctor asked. "Mind you, not too fluffy. Want to be able to breathe, you know."

"Will somebody shut him up?" The Derrian leader demanded, and for the Doctor the world went black.

--

The walk along to the Clamarian base was a dull and depressing as the exit from the TARDIS. However, on arriving, Carys had to admit it was worth it. There was a castle, made out of a blue, shining marble like substance that seemed to glow in the darkness of the place. Inside were many tent-like things set up around green trees and a fresh lake, which was bubbling with the appearance of molten gold.

"Our last little bit of paradise." Jana informed them sadly. "It's completely protected from those monsters. Feel free to look around, it's quite safe."

Jack made some comment, and Carys wandered off.

What she saw made her feel terrible. There were parents with teenagers, trying to convince them not to go off and fight; there were lonely children with baby sisters or brothers, their parents' casualties of the war, there were even people her age with sad, lonely looks in their eyes, really sad, not in the way that they had been on the console screen.

War…now she knew why the Doctor got so angry about it…if this was what had happened to his planet. This…worse than this…

She wondered if the Doctor was alright. He could look after himself, that was for sure, but sometimes he did get a little…carried away.

And then there was Clara. Only twelve, lost on an alien planet…

--

The Doctor opened his eyes and looked around him. Captured by the Derrians, he remembered that. This planet was horrible. The Derrian's camp wasn't much better. If anything, it was worse. More death, more decay…

He was lying on some sort of stone table, hoping he wasn't about to be some sort of sacrifice.

"It…it's…um…horrible…isn't it?" A familiar voice said beside him as Clara reappeared into view.

The Doctor jumped. "Blimey, Clara, you nearly gave me a double heart attack!" he exclaimed. "Where'd you appear from?"

"I was…here the…eh…here the…umm…whole time."

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, but…disappear again." The Doctor advised, standing up.

"Huh?"

"Now!"

Clara did so, just as three Derrians entered the tent.

--

Jana had servants put out a banquet for Jack and Carys to share with her.

"What about your husband?" Jack asked, wincing in pain as he got a swift kick in the shin from Carys.

The Clamarian queen didn't notice. "He is away fighting in Derris."

"The Derrian's home planet, yeah?" Carys asked, passing on some sort of green sludge that was offered to her.

"Yes." Jana nodded. "He was one of the first to go, when…"

"What?"

"Would you like to hear how a foolish mistake started a war?" Jana asked.

--

"You are our prisoner!" the lead Derrian barked upon entering.

"Yeah, I got that" The Doctor replied, rubbing the back of his head. "You weren't exactly treating me like a guest. Who are you?"

"I am Riel, leader of the Derrian army!" Riel roared. "Men! Hold him!"

The two other Derrians pinned the Doctor's arms to his sides. The Doctor heard Clara shuffle out of the way just in time.

"Oi! No need for that!" The Doctor said indignantly.

"You are not Clamarian!" Riel snapped.

"Nope. Does my skin look blue to you? Mind you, I should try that next time. Blue skin and ginger hair, nice clash, make me stand out a bit, what do you think?"

"Next time?"

"Yeah, my next regeneration."

"Regeneration?"

"Oh dear, you lot are thick. Less Derrian, more Derr-_brain_-ian!" The Doctor said, then took a mental note to never make a joke like that again. Ever. "Yep, my next regeneration. I'm a Timelord, you see. From the planet Gallifrey."

Riel's lizard-like eyes widened in shock and he back up a few steps. Those holding the Doctor let go as if he was burning and retreated.

"Timelord…" Riel gave a low hiss.

"Spot on." The Doctor replied. "And this Timelord wants to know what's going on."


	8. Of Swearings and Stories

"_And this Timelord wants to know what's going on."_

--

"Kill him!" Riel screeched. "Kill him!"

The two other Derrians were reluctant to move, especially when a girl appeared from nowhere. "Don't _touch _him!" she demanded, with the sort of authority the Doctor associated with powerful leaders, not twelve year old girls.

"Clamarian!" Riel shouted. "KILL IT!"

"No, don't." a small voice said from the entrance. "That's my new playmate. I've been waiting on you." A young Derrian boy entered the tent.

"Playmate, your majesty?"

"Yes. I'm bored." The boy replied. "Come here." he added to Clara.

Clara looked at the Doctor in alarm. He gave her a reassuring nod. "Okay." She replied and followed.

Outside the tent, the boy said, "Are you alright? They weren't really going to hurt you, were they?"

"No, but they were going to shoot my friend." Clara replied.

"They'll be too scared." The boy replied confidently. "Is he _really _a Gallifreyan?"

"I think so. I haven't known him for very long…I think." Clara replied. "My name is Clara. Thank you for saving me."

"No problem. I'm Prince Ryo, of the Derrians. I hate this war, it's ridiculous. And it's my fault." Ryo said.

"I'm sure that's not true…" Clara replied. "You're only my age."

"Yes, well, not _directly _my fault, I suppose…"

--

Jana was now telling her story.

"It all started nearly thirteen of your years ago now, when Gyron went off exploring. We keep similar time scales, you know. I demanded to go with him, but he refused. I was so very angry; I arranged a ship at once. I travelled to my favourite planet, heard of in the tales of the ancients. Planet Earth.

There I met a young man, a handsome young man, human, of course. We got very close…

When I returned to Clamar, I found something that I really didn't want to. I was with child. My husband was delighted, of course, assuming that it was his. My baby was born a beautiful girl, but she looked far too much like her human father for my husband not to get suspicious. She stayed with us for three years, but my husband refused to acknowledge her existence, having found out what had happened. The Derrian king has a son of her age. He proposed matrimony between them to keep our planets close. I agreed, but soon after my husband took my child and sent her to Earth, claiming that she belonged with her people.

I was heartbroken, and the Derrian king was furious. He declared we had cheated him out of the deal, and proposed another deal…give up our planet or die."

"That's a bit strong." Jack put in.

"Not at all." Jana replied. "To a Derrian, a promise is a life bond. To break a promise shows a complete lack of honour. He was completely in the right. And considering our planet was already weakened from the war between Skaro and Gallifrey…"

"Clara." Carys muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Clara. She's the girl you're on about, isn't she?" Carys repeated.

"The girl who was with you?" Jana asked.

"How did you know that" Jack asked.

"Oh, dear, Clamarians have that power. You can't see a camouflaged Clamarian, but we can always see each other." Jana replied. "We also have a telepathic link – we can always tell when another is absorbing."

"So, that explains why Clara heard the screaming…"

"Yes. You get used to it living around others, but…"

"But what about the TARDIS?" Jack demanded.

"The…TARDIS? Surely you don't mean the ones from legend? Belonging to the Timelords?"

"Yes, like the Doctor. You know, the bloke who got dragged off by those Derrians."

"Well, then, that explains it. It was defence mechanism, during the Last Great Time War. If a TARDIS came anywhere near a Clamarian, we would scream. Timelords have an amazing reserve of energy, of course, so it was perfect. I'm not saying it was right, but it was all we could do to survive." Jana explained.

"And why Clara?" Carys piped up again. "Why that name? Isn't that a rather human name for you to call her?"

"Clara chose her own name." Jana smiled. "I didn't name her. She wasn't old enough yet. But whenever anyone asked who she was, she would reply 'Clamarian'. However, as a three year old, her speech wasn't perfect, so it came out…"

"Clara Ian." Jack and Carys said simultaneously, smiling in spite of themselves.

--

"Very well, Timelord." Riel hissed. "The war started because our Lord, King Ricoh, had a promise broken. His son, young Prince Ryo who you just seen, was to be married to the Clamarian princess when they were of age. But the traitorous king of that worthless race sent the girl away. He cheated us! They will pay!"

The two others roared in agreement and they started stamping, all of them.

"Alright, alright, you got offended. So what do you do? Attack a planet that's already suffering? You make me sick." The Doctor said, no longer joking. "You decided to hit a planet that was already weak, and wipe out the rest of its people, all because some kid didn't get a girlfriend." His eyes were blazing now. "You started a war, and guess what. I don't like wars."

"Like you're one to talk, Timelord." Riel spat. "You are a _hypocrite_."

The Doctor winced. But then his glare returned, with even more intensity. He had an idea. "Here's what's going to happen, Riel. I'm going to get Clara. And that boy too. You're going to arrange a meeting with the Clamarians. And we're going to end this war once and for all."

--

"So, if you had this Carys and Jack with you, Clara, why did you follow the Doctor?" Ryo asked. "Surely you would have been safer with them?"

"Yes, but that's the _thing_!_" _Clara exclaimed. "I wouldn't have! There were so many Clamarians, I saw them with my own eyes, Ryo, and I was scared. At least the Doctor has his sonic screwdriver."

"Only Clamarians can see other invisible Clamarians." Ryo observed.

"Clara here is rather special." A voice said, and Clara and Ryo whirled around. There was the man Clara wanted to see most right now, is brown eyes smiling, his brown coat seemingly billowing even in the windless atmosphere. Clara stood up and ran and hugged him.

"Whoa, Clara, you'll be the death of me." The Doctor grinned, giving her a quick hug back.

"What did you mean she is special?" Ryo demanded, standing also.

"Well, we're about to find out." The Doctor replied, as Riel suddenly came up behind them.

"We're ready." He hissed.


	9. Of Goodbye and Good luck

**Second last chapter now. Four pages on word. You'd better enjoy it. Get the hankies out. You might just cry.**

"_We're ready." He hissed._

--

"Excellent!" the Doctor said, strolling up to Riel and plucking the weapon off his belt and throwing it aside. "You won't need that. Tell your army to do the same."

Riel glared.

The Doctor glared right back.

Riel gave in. "No weapons!" he yelled, stomping back to the tents.

"No weapons?" Ryo asked the Doctor.

"No weapons." The Doctor replied firmly.

--

"We need weapons." Jack said. "We want to help you fight them."

"Speak for yourself. I just want to get the Doctor and Clara back safe." Carys snorted, being shoved aside by a desperate soldier looking for his own gun.

A Clamarian male looked at them critically, then disappeared (not literally) and returning with two guns. "These will be sufficient." He said, handing them to Jack.

One hour ago, the message had come through that the Derrian army leader, Riel, had called a meeting with the Clamarians, and the Clamarian was in a state of utter panic. They weren't prepared for another conflict yet. The atmosphere was not like paradise anymore.

"That will do!" Jana shouted over the rabble. "My soldiers, be brave! We shall not cower below their feet! If we are to die, we shall die standing tall! Now let us leave!"

--

"Why are we at the back?" Jack complained.

"So I don't die." Carys replied. "Honestly, Jack, you'd think you enjoyed it or something."

Jack shrugged. "It's not too bad. You just feel stiff in the morning."

"Stop making terrible jokes." Carys ordered.

"I will, when you take the gun."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"I'm not killing someone."

"Derrians aren't human."

"Neither is the Doctor, and I'm not about to kill him either."

"He'd come back to life."

"I wish you wouldn't."

"That hurt, Carys Jones, it really did."

"Good."

"Take the gun!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Look, Jack, I worked for Torchwood for one week. That was enough murder to last a lifetime."

"It wasn't murder, it was self defence."

"So that's how you justify killing those aliens, is it?"

"You know what? You're just like the Doctor."

"Thank you."

"It wasn't meant to be a compliment."

"Then you really aren't great at insults."

"Shut it!" a third voice stopped Jack from replying. It was a soldier in front of them. The poor boy was younger than Carys. He looked like he was suffering from a major headache. "Look, we're all scared, okay? But please stop the bickering. It's really getting on our nerves."

Carys looked around to see most of the group of soldiers had stopped and were staring at Jack and her in curiosity and amazement.

She went pink and looked at her feet.

Jack seemed to like the attention.

--

"Here they come." The Doctor said cheerfully, as he strolled with the Derrians, with Clara firmly gripping his hand. Of course, it was the Doctor that was doing the strolling. Not the Derrians. They were marching.

Clara was terrified. She clutched her new friends' hand, letting go of the Doctor, who walked too fast anyway. Ryo looked petrified as well, but he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

They were coming.

--

"Here they come" Jack informed Carys, as he pushed through to the front of the crowd of soldiers who seemed to have frozen to the spot and Carys reluctantly followed him. "Will you take the gun now?"

"No."

Jack raised the gun.

"Oh put that down!" someone shouted from the Derrian rabble. "Come on, Captain, you're embarrassing me."

That voice. That familiar voice. The owner came out into the open and Carys threw the gun that Jack had forced into her hands aside and ran to hug him, kissing him on the cheek, generally showing that she was glad he was alive, or, in his case, was in the same body.

"Nice to see you too." The Doctor grinned. "Mind you, I wouldn't mind being able to breathe."

Carys released her grip. "Sorry!" she said sheepishly, before proceeding to tell the Doctor everything Jana had told her and Jack.

The Doctor smiled grimly. "I thought so." he sighed. "Listen!" he shouted loudly, while Carys spotted Clara beside a young Derrian boy – couldn't have been more than thirteen – and ran to hug her too.

All of the faces turned to the Doctor. He continued to speak. "This fighting has to stop! And I'm going to stop it!"

The Derrians roared. "They broke the promise!"

"Wrong, actually." The Doctor replied. "You agreed to matrimony when the girl and Prince Ryo came of age, which they haven't, yet."

"The girl is on Earth!"

"Wrong again. She's over there." The Doctor said, pointing at Clara. "You _are _thick."

"Carys?" Clara asked.

"Actually, honey, he means you." Carys replied.

"Me?" Clara squeaked.

Jack, who had approached them, said "Yep."

"I'm…I'm…the…I'm the princess?" she whispered. "D...do…I…do I have to stay here?"

"No, of course not." Carys replied.

"Yes." Jack answered.

"I'm afraid so." responded the Doctor.

Carys glared at the males angrily. "What do you mean, 'Yes?'"

"She needs to stop the war." The Doctor replied.

"She's just a kid!"

"People are dying!"

"She has a life to live!"

With her own people." The Doctor replied firmly.

"What about her parents?"

"King Gyron will get used to her." Jack said.

"No!" Carys almost shouted. "Her _real _parents! On Earth!"

"Carys…Mam would rather I disappeared than let millions more people die." Clara spoke up. "I'll stay!" she called loudly, authority in her voice, the same as when she had stopped Riel killing the Doctor. "I will marry your prince," she paused here, blushing slightly, smiling at Ryo. "On a few conditions. First, this war is as of now over. Second, you have two planets to rebuild. You will help each other. Also, you will thank my friends for ending this war."

The Derrians and the Clamarians looked at each other, muttering, ten turned to the three that weren't of their kind, muttering thanks.

"And Doctor, Carys, Jack…please come and visit me some time. And be safe. And tell my parents…tell them something." Clara said, smiling sadly.

--

"Goodbye Doctor." Clara said, getting some freedom from her people for a minute to say goodbye.

"It's never really goodbye." The Doctor said, smiling. "You were brilliant, Clara."

"'bye, Jack."

"See you, kid. Good luck."

"Goodbye, Carys."

Carys hugged Clara. "Be safe, honey." she said. She let go and saw Clara was in tears. "Oh, don't, sweetie, you'll start me off." She smiled. "Go on. Jana's waiting."

Clara nodded tearfully and ran off. She turned and waved, once, before disappearing behind Derrians and Clamarians alike.

Carys started to cry then. The Doctor and Jack both took her hand and squeezed it. They stood like that, the three in a row with joined hands until the crowd was no more than a dot on the horizon, and then…then they were gone.

"What will we tell her parents?" Carys asked sadly.

"She died." The Doctor replied. "Remember?"

"By the time Torchwood found out, she was already dead." Jack said.

"Oh…but she wasn't" Carys realised. "I see."

And then they said goodbye to the planet Clamar and entered the TARDIS.

Clara had her home now, and it was time to go back to their own.


	10. Of Policemen and Police boxes

_Clara had her home now, and it was time to go back to their own._

--

"So, that's that then." Jack said.

"Yup." Carys replied dully.

Both were sitting at the very back of the control room, watching the Doctor push buttons and pull levers from afar.

"So, how about now?" Jack asked.

"What?"

"Still not fancy the Doctor?"

"Oh, come on, Jack…"

"You did kiss him."

"So did everyone else."

Jack grinned. "Yes, and _everyone _loves the Doctor."

"Oh really? Okay, Captain, give me _one_ person who truly fancies him. Go on."

"Martha."

"He kissed her first, and she's my little cousin. Doesn't count."

"Rose."

"Blonde. Oh, and trapped in a different universe. Doesn't count."

"Me."

"You'd go for anything with the ability to reproduce. And some without. You don't count either."

Jack shrugged. He was about to say something when the TARDIS stopped.

"Ready?" the Doctor's voice called back to them.

Carys sighed. Time to get it over with.

--

"Mr and Mrs Brooks?" Jack, the poser, was dressed fully as a police officer as he addressed the couple who answered the door. Carys hated the Doctor for the day he put that outfit in his wardrobe. She herself was dressed normally, and the Doctor was still the Doctor.

But one person in police clothing was enough to frighten the Brooks. "What's happened?" demanded Mr Brooks.

"I'm afraid there's been an accident." Carys said quietly. "Your daughter, Clara…"

Mrs Brooks gasped. "Clara? What happened? Where is she?"

"Maybe we should come in." Carys suggested.

"I want ID." Mr Brooks demanded. "Who are you to come up here and….you could be liars! Kidnappers! That's what you are!"

"Calm down, Mr Brooks, I assure you we aren't liars or kidnappers." Jack said. "Our boss has got the ID, haven't you boss?" he looked at the Doctor expectantly

"An American…" Mr Brooks grumbled. "Nothing but trouble"

The Doctor continued to gaze vaguely ahead. Carys elbowed him. "What? Oh, ID, right, here you go." He flipped the psychic paper out.

"Chief Inspector Smith." Mr Brooks read. "And his team, Sergeant Jones and P.C Plodder."

Carys tried not to laugh at the murder on Jack's face as he glared at the Doctor, who took back the paper with a calm expression.

"Come in." Mrs Brooks said timidly.

--

"So where is Clara?" Mr Brooks asked, a lot calmer now, as they sat in the (where else?) sitting room, and were offered tea by Mrs Brooks, which everyone except the Doctor refused.

"There was…a fire…" Carys invented. They foolishly hadn't thought of a story before arriving. She glanced at her companions for help.

"Yes. Terrible fire." The Doctor agreed. "A…a wooden house, actually. In…err…the woods."

Jack and Carys both looked at him, exasperated. He shrugged, as in "_What do you want me to say?_"

"Yes." Jack said. "Not the local woods, a bit further than that. There were a few older children, smoking and drinking and the like. It got a bit out of hand, one of them was, we assume, waving about a lighter. I'm afraid that your daughter was with them"

"They were trapped." Carys went on. "The roof fell in because of the flames. Some of the older children got out, but…"

Mrs Brooks burst into tears. Mr Brooks stared, ashen faced.

"We're afraid the body is too badly burnt to …well, you understand." Jack rounded off the story

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor finished. "Let's go." He added quietly to Carys.

Together, he and Carys exited to the TARDIS.

--

"What about Jack?"

"He can find his own way home. Besides, I think the Brooks need someone right now." The Doctor replied.

"Will she be alright, Doctor?" Carys asked again.

"She's a strong little girl. She'll be fine."

"And what about you?"

"Me?"

"Will you be alright, alone again?"

The Doctor stared at her as if he'd forgotten that part. Before he could answer, however, the TARDIS stopped moving.

They paused. "Here we are then." Carys said.

"Yep. You were brilliant, by the way." The Doctor grinned.

"You weren't too shabby yourself. And if you don't visit, I'll kill you." Carys replied, hugging him before exiting the TARDIS doors.

Cardiff was beautiful in the evening, Carys told herself. Not completely boring and seen far too many times, not at all.

She unlocked her door and went inside. "I'm home!" she called out to herself. "Great to see you Carys." She replied.

She took off her coat.

"I'm losing it." She muttered to herself, switching on the light.

And…everything was the same. The same, boring, mundane…of course it was. Life with the Doctor was never anywhere near real life.

She picked up a letter, she must have missed it. From the University, saying that they required more payments. Oh joy. And her heating was apparently shut off too.

There was a knock at the door.

She opened it. "Doctor!"

"I'm not going to wait forever." The Doctor said impatiently. Oh, and you'll need _this…_" he put something in her hand then turned and walked away.

Carys stood, watching him, completely puzzled. She looked at what he'd given her. A small Yale key…

Forget University and heating bills, Carys thought, grinning and going out of the house, locking the door. "Oi! Wait a minute!"

The Doctor turned around. "There you are! Women take so long to get ready."

"And Timelords take so long to say the simplest things. Honestly, if you _wanted _a babysitter, you could just ask."

The Doctor snorted. "A babysitter? I'm insulted." He said, opening the big blue doors.

"Alright, Carys Jones, choose. Anywhere in time and space."

Carys grinned. "Well, there's a little chippie down the road…"

"Allons-y!" the Doctor cried. "But I think we can walk."

"Are you joking? It's a bus trip. We're taking this thing." Carys laughed. "And then we're meeting Harper Lee."

"Sounds good to me!" the Doctor grinned.


End file.
